The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for the incineration of combustible waste material such as farm animal biomass in an essentially pollution free manner.
There exists a need for disposing of farm animal biomass from high-density animal farming without fouling the environment through excessive dispersion of nutrients and viruses. The term biomass as herein used includes, but is not necessarily limited to, the waste of farm animals (e.g. hogs and poultry), diseased animal carcasses, and animal bedding material (e.g., straw and wood chips). Currently, disposal methods include transferring such biomass to existing waterways, which can, however, pollute the water and present potential health hazards.
Proposals for incinerating the biomass have involved the use of high and non-uniform combustion temperatures, resulting in the production of noxious substances, such as NO.sub.x, SO.sub.x, CO, and sub-micron fly-ash which dictates the need for extensive (and expensive) scrubbing and filtering to meet current emission standards.
Other proposals, such as trucking, composting, and biodegrading have proven economically infeasible and detrimental to the environment and public health.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide novel methods and apparatus for disposing of farm animal biomass in a relatively inexpensive, non-polluting manner.